Hearing a killer attempt to justify their killings is not only terrifying but also menacing. “If I killed them, you know, they couldn’t reject me as man”; those were the words of the notorious Coed Killer, also known as Edmund Kemper. Kemper spent the 1970s terrorizing the coast of California and helped ten women meet their fate. Without a doubt, this murderer managed to catch the attention of everyone and has gone down as one of the most horrific and gruesome serial killers of all time. However, this chilling killer’s lifestyle did not all of a sudden come out to play; Kemper’s outrageous acts of violence had been around ever since he was a boy. With all of this said, it is no wonder that this sadistic killer is considered to be nothing more …show more content…
Unfortunately, this was something young Edmund was deprived of. His mother was a chronic alcoholic and would show no signs of affection towards her son. Along with this, she would lock her young son in the basement as a form of discipline and force him to sleep there for days, even months at a time. As Kemper grew older “his mother became obsessed with the thought that he would molest his sister” (Vronsky). Despite only being ten, his mother once again made him sleep in the dark, cold cellar. Due to the years of neglect, Kemper allowed his mind to wander into his dark …show more content…
The second time he killed the family’s cat, his sadistic side showed. “He sliced off the top of the cat’s skull with a machete…” (Leyton) and found pleasure in watching the cat bleed out. As this cold-blooded monster’s villianish side began to unfold, he began playing a game called “gas chamber” with his sister. The purpose of the game was to scare his sister by requiring her “...to tie him in a chair and click an imaginary switch that released the gas...” (Holmes) to which he would then trash around as if he were dying. However, before Kemper reached adulthood, the first major warning sign of his horrific life to come showed. In 1963, Edmund’s mother could no longer take having him around and sent him to live with his grandparents. The resentment that was already built up inside Kemper towards his mother only became worse, and he sadly let that out on his grandparents. He shot and killed both grandmother and grandfather with a .22 caliber gun in late 1963. The blood thirsty teen confessed to the crimes and was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for rehabilitation. When asked why he did what he did, he simply said: “I just wondered how it would feel to shoot grandma” (Vronsky). With no signs of remorse, it is no wonder why this killer is labeled as a
The product of a broken and abusive home, Edmund Kemper grew up timid and resentful, with a perception of his own inadequacy. Before the age of ten, Kemper graduated to living targets, burying the family cat alive and subsequently cutting off its head, returning with the gruesome trophy to his room, where it was placed on proud display despite his tender age, he brooded over fantasies of love and sex, with violence playing an inevitable role. One afternoon, discussing Edmund's childish crush upon a grade-school teacher, Kemper's sister asked him why he did not simply kiss the woman. Kemper answered, deadpan, "If I kiss her, I would have to kill her first." A second family cat fell victim to his urges; this one hacked with a machete, pieces of the carcass hidden in his closet until his mother accidentally discovered them. Kemper's mother first packed him off to live with her estranged husband, and then - after running away - the boy was delivered to his paternal grandparents, residing on a remote California ranch. There, in August 1963, fourteen-year-old Kemper shot his grandmother with a .22-caliber rifle, afterward stabbing her body repeatedly with a kitchen knife. When his grandfather came home, Kemper shot the old man as well, leaving him dead in the yard. Interrogated by authorities, Kemper could only say "I just wondered how it would feel to shoot Grandma." Motiveless violence displayed in his actions got Kemper committed to the state's maximum-security hospital in Atascadero. In 1969, a 21-year-old behemoth grown to six-foot-nine and some 300 pounds, Kemper was paroled to his mother's custody over the objections of the state psychiatrists. During Kemper's enforced absence, his mother had settled in Santa Cruz, a college town whose population boasted thousands of attractive co-eds. For the next two years, through 1970 and '71, Kemper bided his time, holding odd jobs and cruising the highways in his leisure time, picking up dozens of young female hitchhikers, refining his approach, his "line," until, he knew that he could put them totally at ease. Some evenings, he would frequent a saloon patronized by off-duty policemen, rubbing shoulders with the law and soaking up their tales of crime, becoming friendly with a number of detectives who would later be assigned to track him down.
In 1982, police received a call about a body floating in the Green River in Salt Lake City, Utah (it was just one of many bodies that they were going to find). Police were stunned when they started receiving more calls about bodies found in parks, play grounds, and near highways. When police learned that all of the victims were prostitutes, they knew this was a key piece of evidence in their investigation. No one could have ever known that Gary Ridgway just started one of the largest killing sprees in American history. Ridgway grew up in a house where he was abused and harassed by his mother, Mary Ridgway. Ridgway soon began growing a strong hatred towards his abusive mother. Ridgway had begun thinking of some ways he could get back at her by hurting her, but he never did. According to American Murder, Ridgway went through numerous divorces and had a history of interacting with prostitutes (Mayo). ). Ridgway’s past with women soon made him develop a strong dislike for them and led to his killings.
Dee, C. (2007). Serial killers, up close and personal: inside the world of torturers, psychopaths, and murderers. Berkeley, Calif: Ulysses Press.
...dent because he was known to hang out in a bar in Santa Cruz where off duty police officers could be found, asking questions about the murders he had committed. He had even applied to become a police officer (Martingale 222). Kemper, by calling the police and describing details of the murders to get them to believe he was the “coed killer,” was finally getting the notoriety and recognition he felt he deserved for the first time in his life. The label of antisocial personality disorder can be applied to Kemper. He paid no attention to the pain and suffering he caused others and completely ignored their individual rights. This behavior started early in his childhood and continued until he became incarcerated. Edmund Kemper III is a sociopath, a psychopath, the “coed killer,” a serial killer, one of the most horrifying and most serious offenders living in prison today.
Hickey, Eric W. Serial Murderers and Their Victims. Belmont, California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1991. Print.
Serial murder, which is defined as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims, by the same offenders, in separate events”(Lubaszka & Shon, 2013, p. 1), is a term that American society has become quite familiar with. At a ripe age, parents begin teaching their children not to talk to strangers in hopes of shielding them from the potential evil our world has to offer, but what if I told you the serial killer may not always be the scary man driving a van and offering candy? Our society, like it does most things, has placed a stigma upon serial killers. Although not all implied labels are untrue, this stigma makes us vulnerable to the hidden deviance lurking behind us, dressed in sheep’s clothing. Over the course of this analysis, I will discuss and elaborate on Christine Lubaszka and Phillip Shon’s work, “The notion of victim selection, risk, and offender behavior in healthcare serial murders”. My evaluation will consists of a thorough description of Lubaszka and Shon’s article, followed by a brief critic explaining how their work relates to other forms of deviance, social control, and the material studied in this course, as well as stating a few of the drawbacks and benefits of the authors’ work and suggestions for future researchers.
Edmund Emil Kemper III was born in Burbank, California on 18 December 1948. He is more commonly known by the title of “The co-ed killer” because of the numerous murders of girls attending co-education schools and acts of necrophilia he committed on them during the 1970’s (Greig, 2012). No one is suddenly made into a killer overnight, so there must be a source that the motivation to kill comes from. In Kemper’s case there were multiple sources. The toxic relationship he had with his mother as well as the internal feelings of inadequacy and a desire to have power were large factors in his compulsion to kill. Of course there could be many more contributing factors to add to the equation, but the aforementioned three had the most weight in Kemper’s life.
Mass Murderers and Serial Killers are nothing new to today’s society. These vicious killers are all violent, brutal monsters and have an abnormal urge to kill. What gives people these urges to kill? What motivates them to keep killing? Do these killers get satisfaction from killing? Is there a difference between mass murderers and serial killers or are they the same. How do they choose their victims and what are some of their characteristics? These questions and many more are reasons why I was eager to write my paper on mass murderers and serial killers. However, the most interesting and sought after questions are the ones that have always been controversial. One example is; what goes on inside the mind of a killer? In this paper I will try to develop a better understanding of these driven killers and their motives.
Ted Bundy was an American born rapist, a necrophile; a serial killer and a kidnapper who assaulted and murdered several young women during the 1970’s. The criminal kept on denying the charges for more than ten years and later confessed of having committed the thirty homicide crimes in seven different states before his execution (Rule, 2009). Bundy’s handsome and charismatic appearance made it possible for him to easily win the confidence of young women who were always his targets. He broke into the dwellings of his victims at night and bludgeoned them as they slept. He also approached young women in public places where he impersonated as an authority figure or feigned injury on his victim before empowering and assaulting at a more secluded area where he left them dead (Rule, 2009).
Ricard, Suzanne, Thompson, Jennie. “Women’s Role in Serial Killing Teams: Reconstructing a Radical Feminist Perspective.” Critical Criminology 17(4): 261-275
Each of a serial killer’s killings temporary gratifies whatever provokes the killer’s actions, and each subsequent killing terminates a separate sequence of behaviors. They are all motivated to for different reasons; some kill to gain or exert power over the victims, entertainment or mission. Some kill because they believe they have the responsibility to they society to do so (Julietta Leung N.D.) Frequently, homosexuals, prostitutes, and the homeless are viewed by serial killers because they might believe they are devalued in society or they view as being beneath humanity. They believe those kind of p...
According to federal law, the term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors. Throughout history, serial killers have always been a fascination among many individuals. On numerous occasions, law enforcement has tried to dive into the psyche of these killers to determine why they kill. There have also been numerous stereotypes placed on serial killers. Typical stereotypes are serial killers are all white males, loners, and that their crimes are driven by sex.
What would cause an individual to behave in this rather heinous and macabre manner? Using Robert Pickton as a case study, this paper will explore the phenomenon of serial murder and apply research literature to help explain his behaviour and examine issues such as psychopathy, mental disorder, and substance abuse relevant to the Pickton case. In addition, the paper will explore the sexually sadistic nature of Pickton’s murders. Finally, the paper will explore the reasoning behind Pickton’s selection of drug addicted prostitutes as victims that enabled him to conduct his murders in relative anonymity. ...
Introduction: On the spectrum of criminal activity, serial killers are rather rare. Rarer still is a serial killer like Ted Bundy. Bundy confessed to killing 28 women in the 1970s in ghastly fashion and some believe he may have killed far more. It is hard to imagine what could cause any person to cross the mental boundary into such macabre behavior as Bundy perpetrated. Nevertheless, it is important to try to understand that behavior because only though such an understanding would society be able to identify and deter mass murderers in order to save lives.
This paper is talking about “The Serial Killer,” but focus on Gary Ridgway- “The Green River Serial Killer.” He earned his nickname because the first five victims that he killed were found in the Green River. He was one of the most famous serial killers in the United States. Ridgway raped, chocked, killer and discarded 48 women, including many teenagers as young as 15 years old (Silja J, 2003). In Ridgway’s mind, he even believed that he was helping the police out, as he admitted in one interview with investigators (Silja J, 2003).